Boasting 1,200 terawatt hours (TWh) of existing capacity, gas storage sites can be a formidable asset for Europe in the transition to a low-carbon economy, providing much-needed flexibility to a future energy system where gas and electricity will be more closely integrated, says Ilaria Conti.

French energy and climate bill’s new draft sets carbon neutrality as the main objective for domestic energy policies and sets ambitious goals for the future. NGOs of the Climate Action Network (CAN) are less impressed by the new draft as concrete short-term measures appear to be lacking. EURACTIV’s partner le Journal de l’Environnement reports.

Europe needs its own ‘Green New Deal’ to stave off the perfect storm of populism, climate change and economic crisis. Instead, the EU has adopted confused energy and environment policies which could be self-defeating in the long run, writes Vincente Lopez.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by French and Norwegian ministers Tuesday (16 April) to officially open a massive wind farm in the Baltic Sea, a key project for her country's "energy transition".

German cable operator Unitymedia is now offering its customers the option of extending their local Wi-Fi network to other rooms.

This requires the so-called Connect Booster, which transports the data via the power line, as Chief Commercial Officer Christian Hindennach and Project Manager Christian Rupp explained in a press conference.

The booster base station is connected to the Connect cable router while the Wi-Fi booster is plugged into a socket in the room in which the wireless network is needed, for example in the bedroom, office, kitchen or children’s room.

The booster, which can transmit up to 1Gbps, is intended for all cases in which the Wi-Fi signal of the cable router is not sufficient, for example in large apartments, houses or across different floors. The device automatically configures itself with the customer’s broadband internet access.

The basic package costs €2.99 per month surcharge on the individual internet tariff and includes the base station and a booster. Further boosters are available at the monthly price of €1.99. The equipment can be tested for 30 days and returned if not satisfied.

After Austria and Switzerland, Germany is the third country in which Unitymedia’s parent company Liberty Global is introducing the Connect Booster, as Rupp told Broadband TV News. In Germany, the automatic configuration (“plug & surf”) is being used for the first time.

Around 1.8 million Unitymedia customers currently use the Connect box as a cable router. This corresponds to almost half of the company’s broadband customers.